TORI SHORT STORY 15 — MIDNIGHT MAC N' CHEESE
by ShadowBat48
Summary: After waking from a particularly vexing nightmare, Tori wanders through the manor until she comes to the kitchen to find her brother making a midnight snack to avoid the remnants of his own troubled thoughts.
A/N: Here's another short story! Hope you guys are liking these little short tales! And if you have any ideas for a prompt, PM me about it!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Enjoy!

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TORI SHORT STORY #15 — MIDNIGHT MAC N' CHEESE

Tori lurched awake, shock and surprise forcing the tiredness she had felt from training that day away, eyes snapping around her dark and foreboding room with the shadows of the trees surrounding the manor dancing across the walls. Talking a deep breath and sitting up fully in bed she drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She stayed like that for a moment, trying to ease her heart rate and breathing. It was spring break, and rather than going somewhere loud and wild and crazy like every other college goer, Tori and Tim had decided to stay at home and train and protect Gotham. Liam had gone back to London, but said he was coming back to stay for the rest of the break they had. He and Arthur did not get along at all. It had been a great. Not too hot, not too cold, and the trees were budding again.

Gotham seemed lighter in the spring and summer, unlike in winter when everything was dark and sinister and cold…very very cold. Tori was excited for the warmer months, though she'll always love the colder ones the most even if she can't enjoy them as much as she used to. She took another deep breath and ran a hand through her tangled hair, trying to ignore the creak of the trees blowing in the wind outside. Wayne Manor was loud, every sound vibrated through its wide open and empty-ish halls. Tori took another deep breath and tried to recall what had woken her so abruptly. Was it a nightmare or a memory? Squeezing her eyes shut she tried to remember but came up with nothing. She let out a sigh, of course Dr. Leslie said that there was a chance the even though her mind wasn't being wiped every time she gained a memory, it was so used to not remembering everything that some thoughts, or ideas or old old memories would slip away. Not completely, it just might be harder to recall things, memories or dreams specifically, as easily as she used to. A side affect of Mac's meddling with her mind.

Tori took another deep breath before lying down and fumbling about her bed trying to find her teddy bear and a knitted white blanket Liam had found under her old bed in the Penthouse when they went back to retrieve their things before moving out. Ali had been the first to remember why it was there, it was a blanket Jess had knitted for Tori when she'd been born. Both Liam and Grant had their own and of course had grown out of sleeping with it, as did Ali and Cameron. Tori, who hadn't really remembered Jess found herself sleeping with it even more as if to remember their nannie as she had been: alive and well and not dead. The blanket itself was ripped and rethreaded and on the verge of being completely destroyed, but she still slept with it nonetheless.

Once she found it she laid down and closed her eyes trying to go to sleep only for her eyes to snap open as a creak echoed through the manor…on the stairs. Tori lay frozen in bed, wondering what that had been…she lay there for a while not wanting to move from her room and wanting to actually sleep that night instead of lying awake wondering what it had been that had woken her up. Finally, she decided to get up and find whoever…or whatever was walking around the house.

Tori wandered down to the first floor of the Manor, silently. She wandered past the living room and dining room to the kitchen, where one over head light above the island counter was shining through the crack of the swinging door. Lightly pushing it open she looked in to find,

"Tim?" Tori stated surprised. Tim started and whirled around, only to relax at the sight of Tori standing in the doorway, "What are you doing up? And why are you in the kitchen?" Tim smiled sheepishly before reaching behind him and pulling out a familiar blue box,

"I'm making Mac N' Cheese," he said,

"At midnight?" Tori asked, coming over and glancing at the clock on the stove,

"Yup," Tim said as he poured the pasta in the now boiling water, popping the 'p'. He had clearly been down here long enough for the water to boil,

"Why?" she asked. Tim frowned, he was silent for a while and just stirred the water,

"I couldn't sleep," was all he said. Tori nodded mutely. He had had a nightmare, just like her…though she bet he could actually remember it,

"Neither can I," Tori said,

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Do you?" Tori shot back, arching an eyebrow,

"Nope," Tim said, yet again popping the 'p', "grab the colander would you. And all the other ingredients,"

"Yes chef," Tori muttered with an eye roll. She crouched down to get the colander, only to cringe as five other bowls, thankfully metal, tumbled out and onto the floor,

"Are you trying to wake Alfred?" Tim hissed, "The only reason I have this box is because I hid it from him…he hates these kinds of foods,"

"Sorry! I didn't know they'd all fall," Tori hissed back, placing the colander in the sink and moving to grab the milk and butter from the kitchen. Tim rolled his eyes before rubbing them tiredly, "How long had you been up before coming down here?" she found herself asking when she realized just how tired her brother looked,

"Two…three hours maybe," he muttered, lifting the pot and pouring its contents into the colander,

"Are you okay?" Tori asked. Tim shrugged,

"It's just been a bad week," was all he said, dumping the pasta back in the pot and adding butter to it, "My mother died this week," Tori felt her heart sink slightly,

"I'm sorry," she said,

"I know," he replied, "Whenever I was upset she'd make me Mac N' Cheese. It was the only thing she knew how to make…and the only time I got to spend time with her when no one else was around. They were, afterall, working all the time and leaving me with nannies like Maud did with you lot,"

"Well…we had one nanny," Tori murmured, not really sure what to say,

"I happen to be starving," she added as Tim finally added the cheese, grinning at her brother, "and that Mac n' Cheese smells delicious," footsteps padded lightly behind them,

"Hello Damian," Tim said, not bothering to look behind him,

"Tt," came the tired response. Tori turned to face Bruce's son to see tired steel grey eyes, a disgruntled expression and wildly messy hair,

"Can't sleep too?" she asked, Damian didn't give her a response, just slid into a seat at the island counter and glared at the two of them,

"Don't bother with him," Tim said, "He won't say a thing until he eats,"

"Is this a common occurrence?" Tori asked,

"We don't exactly have consistent sleep schedules, no matter how hard Bruce tries. Sometimes we can sleep through the night…other times we can't,"

"And when we can't. We have midnight Mac N' Cheese," Damian growled tiredly,

"Yum," Tori said simply as Tim spooned the meal into three bowls and they all sat down and silently ate their midnight meal. They didn't talk about what had woken them up in the midst of the night and they didn't need to. There was just blissful silence and peaceful munching on pasta. It was nice to be included in a ritual of habit, and it was great to be doing it with her brother and the demon even if he was grumpy.

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A/N: Yum! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

Next short story next Tuesday and Things to Resolve continues on Monday!


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